With Franklin voting to permanently remove its parking meters this year, those coin-eating sentinels of the sidewalk have become an increasingly rare sight in the Milford area and MetroWest.
Even those towns that have kept their meters – Framingham and Natick – have considered ways to modernize them in a world where fewer and fewer people are carrying change.
The Franklin Town Council voted in August to eliminate parking meter rules from its bylaws, a move that followed the physical removal of the town’s 50 meters to facilitate a remodeling of its downtown area. The meters, which collected about $18,000 a year, were deemed inconvenient and aesthetically displeasing.
The Franklin Downtown Partnership – which advocates for the downtown area – wrote a letter in support of the move to the council. Partnership Executive Director Lisa Piana said this seemed the right time for the removal.
“The opportunity to see how things would work without them was right now,” she said. “The partnership thought, ‘Let’s try this out.’”
Multiple people, she said, had spoken about how the meters had dissuaded them from visiting downtown.
“I can’t even tell you how many people said they didn’t have change,” she said. “I heard it over and over and over again – a lot of people felt that way.”
The partnership, she said, was in favor of removing the meters with one proviso: that the town enforce its new timed, two-hour parking limit in the area, in order to ensure turnover.
Recently, several towns have faced this dilemma – to encourage visitors to local business while at the same time making sure spaces are not tied up all day. Natick Police Chief James Hicks said his town’s Board of Selectmen began, in the past few years, exploring better ways to administer the 325 paid spaces downtown.
“The selectmen wanted to make it easier to park,” he said. “They wanted several options for paying, in addition to coins – like credit cards, pay-by-phone and smart cards.”
The cost of replacing each of the town’s 300 meters with machines that could do that, Hicks said, was prohibitive. In order to conduct a credit card transaction, for example, a machine would need a modem, and the town would have to pay for service to that modem.
The town determined that a few, centrally located kiosks that could cover multiple parking spaces was the better, and more cost-effective, option. Area merchants, however, disagreed, saying they did not like the look of the installations.
“We felt strongly that kiosks were the future, so we went to the Board of Selectmen, and asked them to allow their use in the town parking lots – we have three of them,” Hicks said.
The hope is that the kiosks – which began accepting payment in January – will prove their worth and gain acceptance.
“Right now, in the fall, is the best test,” Hicks said. “Everyone’s back from vacation, so this is when they see their heaviest use.”
There has been some adjustment – the machines were set up so users typed in their plate numbers to pay, but few people knew those numbers from memory.
In the meantime, Hicks said, the town has placed 188 meters in town that accept both change and smart card payment. Residents can purchase these cards and place a set amount of money on them, deducting payment as necessary.
Framingham has also kept its paid parking. James Paolini, the director of that town’s facilities and capital management department, said the town manages 188 meters, but 90 percent of them have been taken down to accommodate downtown roadwork.
“They should be back up in the next month and a half,” he said.
The town is replacing its meters, he said, with more modern devices that can take credit cards and are easier to track.
Paolini said he felt the meters were necessary to ensure the turnover of parking spaces.
“We don’t want people parking there all day, which would happen because of the proximity to the T,” he said. “The T station in Framingham is very busy – it’s one of the top 10 in the state.”
Paul Joseph, president of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, said he believed parking policy should be driven by a town’s economic development and business goals. He said, in the future, it might be possible for municipalities to tailor their rules in real time.
“I think, in the long term, it’s inevitable that cars themselves will be connected through the ‘Internet of Things,'” he said. “Right now, tolls are set up geographically. In the future, data may be coming from each vehicle.”
For example, he said, the space around a business built on quick visits – like a dry-cleaners – could be charged differently than, say, for the one next to a cultural center, and these rates could change throughout the day.
Franklin’s meters are gone for the time being, but officials said they could be brought back if warranted. Local business owner Cyndi Rich, of Emma’s Quilt Cupboard, said enforcement will have to be stepped up – she noticed a car parked in a downtown space all day recently.
“When the meters were first taken down, people were parking there all day long,” she said. “The new signs are up, but some people are still doing it – I’m assuming that will be taken care of.”
All things considered, though, Rich said she was in favor of the meter-less downtown.
“It’s a more pleasing aesthetic,” she said.
Mike Gleason can be reached at 508-634-7546 or [email protected]. For news throughout the day, follow him on Twitter @MGleason_MDN.
